


Teeth, Claws: A Solas/Lavellan One-shot

by caveman_ghost



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Slow Burn, The Fade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27286426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveman_ghost/pseuds/caveman_ghost
Summary: When Solas interrupts the Inquisitor's nightmare in the fade, she sees more than he intended. Solas/Lavellan oneshot.
Relationships: Female Lavellan/Solas
Kudos: 16





	Teeth, Claws: A Solas/Lavellan One-shot

Solas was dreaming. It had been weeks since he slept in a real bed, as he'd been traipsing across the countryside with Blackwall, Varric, and _her_. The Herald. Mairenn Lavellan. Everything was distracting with her around and he found it impossible to properly dream while he was with her. It didn't help that he went to bed every night frustrated with one thing or another. Whether it was Varric's teasing, Mairenn's mere _presence_ (not to mention the fact that she was a magnet for danger), or Blackwall's irritating habit of flirting with the Herald every chance he got (a practice that left Solas seeing red). At least here in Haven he could have a moment alone.

Solas tried to steady his breathing, emptying his mind of all the frustrating things that accumulated there throughout the day. He soon drifted off and found himself in a familiar place- an abandoned battlefield, where spirits and memories shimmered in the strange light of the fade.

And then, quite suddenly, the fade _shifted_ , and he realized something was wrong. Gone were the sweeping fields he'd been roaming, replaced by smoking ruin. The very air seemed to thicken. The atmosphere had changed from a clear day into a swirling, green-tinged maelstrom. Blinking, Solas tried to orient himself, realizing with a shock where he stood. The temple of sacred ashes. A suspicion growing in his mind, he made his way through an opening in the cracked masonry and immediately spotted her.

She sat with her knees drawn to her chest, staring sightlessly across the field of charred bodies and guttering fires. Solas drew closer. Mairenn's eyes snapped up as she registered his presence.

"Oh, Solas. Haven't seen you here yet." she said, with a forced air of nonchalance. Solas crouched down to her level.

"Oh?" he said, "Who else has been here?"

"You know, the usual. Dead people, monsters." she swallowed hard. "Pretty much all of you have visited at some point. They were all in much worse shape than you, though. I didn't recognize Cassandra at first…. Her head was gone." _Ah_ , Solas thought, his suspicion confirmed. _This is Mairenn's nightmare._

"Well, I'm here. Would you like to talk?" he asked, taking a seat. Mairenn eyed him suspiciously.

"What, just talk? You aren't going to…. I dunno… stab me, or start bleeding from the eyes or whatever?"

"No, I'm just here to listen."

Mairenn glared at him for so long that he thought she wasn't going to speak again. Then she shifted her gaze away.

"I don't want you to die." she finally said.

"I'm not going to die." Solas responded gently.

"Sometimes… I think we all will. I try not to think it, but it creeps in sometimes." She gestured around at the remains of the temple. "I did this, I killed all of these people."

"No, Mairenn. This is not your doing." Solas said firmly. Mairenn did not respond. Disturbed, Solas reached out for her. She shrank from him, looking terrified.

"Don't hurt me!" She cried, scrambling to her feet. "Not you… Not you too." Tears started coursing down her face.

"I'm sorry, Mairenn. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You will… I've seen it."

Solas froze.

"What do you mean?" he asked stiffly. Mairenn was no longer looking at him. Eyes unfocused, she gestured vaguely.

"I see… parts… of you." She mumbled. "Dark forests of thoughts. Anger sharp like fangs." She sighed deeply. "I see more of the others. You hide from me. From everyone."

Solas got to his feet, disturbed. Mairenn's eyes snapped back to his. They looked glassy and somehow larger than usual, liquid pools of green.

"It's gone now. But… there are other things… I can see them here." she laughed, the sound chilling Solas. "I can almost reach out, and-"

Fearing what she might find, Solas focused all of his energy on protecting the core of his mind- things no one should see but him.

"Mairenn, don't." he snapped, hearing the fear in his own voice and feeling disgusted with himself. But he could feel her probing, the thoughts and feelings that lately had floated so close to the surface within easy grasp for her. _She doesn't realize what she's doing_ , he thought wildly. He reached out for her again, to grab her shoulder and shake her out of the trance she was drifting through. Her eyes widened even further in fear and he felt her _slip_ , not away, but _through_ his mind. With a gasp from him the scenery changed and he crumbled to his knees, cradling his head in his hands.

_Outside of Haven, the breach pulsing horribly in the sky. The elf woman lay on a cot before him, unconscious. He was exhausted and afraid, but tried to focus on the mark, through the mark. The woman groaned in pain and he gently pushed her sweaty hair from her forehead. His eyes linger on her face before he shakes himself and returns to studying the mark._

_Sitting alone as always outside his quarters at Haven. He spots her outside the chantry, pacing irritably after yet another meeting with her advisors. With great amusement he watches as she climbs one of the nearby trees, settling at the top to brood in peace and flicking acorns at Cassandra when she comes to get her down._

_She sits alone in the mess tent, the soldiers eyeing her fearfully. Varric had mentioned this. "She's lonely," the dwarf had said. "Everyone is afraid of her, but she keeps trying to make friends." Solas watched while she picked sadly at her food, the seats around her remaining empt. She eventually gave up and left, hiding the tears in her eyes._

_He couldn't sleep that night. Taking a walk through the camp, he came across Mairenn as she knelt next to a wounded soldier. The magic welled in her hands as she healed his wound while he slept. Then she moved on to the next. His eyes lingered on her bare neck, her dark hair tied up out of the way. The surgeon places a hand on her shoulder._

" _You need to rest."_

" _I can go a while longer. They're all here because of me, it's the least I can do."_

_She moves on, hands shaking._

_That night in the Hinterlands, everyone sitting around the fire as the chill night crept in. A pressure on his shoulder. Mairenn had fallen asleep, her face peaceful as her head pressed into his shoulder. For once not overthinking, he wrapped his arm around her and she shifted closer, taking advantage of his warmth as she drifted further asleep. He'd forgotten how this felt._

_But suddenly they were twisting through something that was not memory, the dark currents of wanting and attraction that Solas was trying so hard to ignore. A low, shuddering growl as he grips her waist, the line of her exposed collarbone, the way her eyes send shocks through him when they meet his own, his mouth, her mouth, teeth, claws- an imagined culmination of every carnal impulse he had been fighting against. The clear meaning that_ _**when I want something I TAKE it** _ _-_

With a sound like rushing wind, Solas came back to himself. Catching his breath, he glanced fearfully up at Mairenn. She stood before him with her hands clutching her cheeks. As he met her eyes she flushed pink, the blush creeping all the way to the tips of her long ears.

"Solas, I'm so sorry." She whispered. "I didn't think… I thought you were part of the dream, I didn't realize it was really you."

"It's alright." Solas muttered.

"No, no… I shouldn't have- those were your private… I'm so sorry." She stammered. Solas raised his hand quellingly. Still slightly winded, he got to his feet. There was an extremely awkward silence.

"I should go." Solas finally said. Mairenn looked like she wanted to say something, but blushed even deeper. "You… don't have to come here." Solas added softly. Mairenn looked at him in confusion. "I could… teach you how to control dreams like this. So you don't have to see these things." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "But, I understand if you don't want me-that is, I don't want to make you uncomfortable-"

"That would be wonderful, Solas." Mairenn interrupted. "I'll talk to you about it… tomorrow."

"Yes, that would be best. I'm going to wake up now."

"Ah, yes, me too."

And with that, Solas opened his eyes in his own bed. Immediately he covered his face in his hands.

_Oh, I am in serious trouble._


End file.
